1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of producing an electromechanical transducer element, an electromechanical transducer element, a liquid droplet discharge head, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus including a liquid droplet discharge head to discharge liquid ink droplets onto a recording medium to form an image is known. This liquid droplet discharge head includes nozzles to discharge ink droplets, a pressurized chamber communicating with the nozzles, and an actuator as pressure generating means to generate pressure inside the pressurized chamber. (The pressurized chamber may also be referred to as an ink flow passage, pressurized liquid chamber, pressure chamber, liquid chamber, liquid discharge chamber, and the like.)
As the actuator, an electromechanical transducer element is known. The electromechanical transducer element is disposed on a wall of the pressurized chamber and is formed of electromechanical transducer film made of a piezoelectric member sandwiched between a lower electrode (or a first electrode) and an upper electrode (or a second electrode). The electromechanical transducer element is deformable by a drive voltage applied between the two electrodes.
After forming the electromechanical transducer element (or piezoelectric element) including the lower electrode, an electromechanical transducer film (or piezoelectric film), and the upper electrode, a protective film may be formed using aluminum oxide or silicon oxide to cover at least a side wall of the electromechanical transducer element. When the electromechanical transducer film is exposed to hydrogen or oxygen in the air or immersed in a chemical solution in post-processing, the side wall of the electromechanical transducer film is protected by the protective film to prevent damage to the crystals of the electromechanical transducer film due to exposure to the air.